I’ve had a great experience blogging under the incognito catholic pseudonym, but the need to expand my blog horizons along with WordPress constraints (no free video posts, limited widgets, etc.) have forced me to move on to bigger and better things, namely:

Finally the dust (sand?) is settling and I’m actually absorbing the goings-on of the past several weeks, including events of our California vacation that whipped by at lightening speed. In fact, I’m just now viewing all of the fantabulous photos we snapped and can’t believe NOT A SINGLE ONE HAS BEEN UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET. So here we go with the first image (one of my faves) and more via Flickr photo album soon:

Today was all suck-it-up-and-forget-about-the-stinkin’-illness because YOUTH ORCHESTRA TIME IS HERE! That’s right. Remember the area-wide strings orchestra Catholic Girlie performed in last year? Well, she auditioned for another more advanced group last spring and was selected, sending us off and running to more rehearsals again this year.

Total ear candy all over again – gotta love that!

Ok, so giddiness took over just then. *cough* That’s what happens to a person blessed with musicians in the family – you just go completely silly about it. Or maybe the nasal spray is just messing with my head? Nah. This is serious talent, nasal spray or otherwise. Stay tuned for more music posts!

Who said sending kids back to school was a happy, fun time? Because, let me tell you, those people completely forgot about certain germs involved in the whole process. Even with our stellar hand-washing habits, said germs gave poor ‘ole Mom a big huge sucker punch this week leaving me housebound and squirting Afrin up my nose every 12 hours. This is not what I was expecting so early in the school year. Bah.

Amazing how those small skills one learns in middle/high school can make a sudden reappearance down the road, as was the case tonight when I whipped up a few paper bag book covers for Catholic Girlie who blurted out, “You’re so GOOD at that, Mom!” Funny how that happens. Aw shucks.

After holding to my word and posting a blog every single day of the Catholic Kids’ summer break, here goes our last day and night before school officially starts for the 2009-10 term. And guess what? We’ve created a new family tradition by ending the whole thing with enough excitement to send everyone off to Dream Land without a hitch: GO-CART RACING.

The big news of today? Mom Jumped Off the Diving Board.Really now. The Catholic Youngsters have been getting onto me all summer for lounging poolside reading those favorite novels of mine but NOT GETTING INTO THE POOL. So today I actually took the plunge:

Not so bad after all! (Ok so I held my nose and had a tag sticking out of my bikini bottoms, but who said I couldn’t be a total dork while jumping?)

Stormy weather kept me inside going all crazy updating calendars, completing registration forms, rolling over files from previous school years, etc. etc. So yes, the bad weather really was a blessing-in-disguise for getting things done before the new school year starts… ON WEDNESDAY.
Of this upcoming week.
Sill in shock.I know.
Anyway, Smokie had ideas of her own while all of this work was taking place in the Catholic Homestead: